Photo: lazy fri13th · CC BY 2.0
Agwi-jjim (Spicy Monkfish with Bean Sprouts)
The spicy monkfish dish from Masan. The fish cooks under a lid in a little stock, the bean sprouts wilt in the steam on top of it, and then everything is tossed at once with a chilli seasoning and a starch slurry. It is called jjim, but nothing here is steamed and nothing is braised for long.
Ingredients
- monkfish · cleaned and cut into pieces, with the liver if you have it1.2 kg
- soybean sprouts500 g
- minari (water dropwort) · in 5cm lengths; watercress will do100 g
- mideodeok (sea squirt) · optional100 g
- spring onion · sliced on the diagonal1
- kelp stock · or water200 ml
- Seasoning
- gochugaru5 tbsp
- garlic · minced2 tbsp
- ginger · minced1 tsp
- soy sauce2 tbsp
- doenjang0.5 tbsp
- sugar1 tsp
- black pepper a pinch
- kelp stock · to loosen the seasoning3 tbsp
- To finish
- potato starch2 tbsp
- cold water4 tbsp
- sesame oil1 tbsp
- toasted sesame seeds1 tbsp
Steps
- ⏲ 10 min
Rinse the monkfish pieces in cold water and drain. Mix all the seasoning ingredients, and stir the starch into the cold water in a separate bowl.
- ⏲ 7 min 30 sec
Put the 200ml of stock and the monkfish in a wide pot, cover, and cook over high heat for 7-8 minutes, until the flesh is white and opaque.
- ⏲ 4 min
Spread the bean sprouts evenly over the fish, cover again and leave for 4 minutes. Do not lift the lid in that time — the sprouts are cooking in the steam rising from the pot.
- ⏲ 2 min
Uncover, add the seasoning and the mideodeok, and toss over high heat for 2 minutes. Monkfish is firm enough to take it without breaking up.
- ⏲ 1 min
Stir the slurry again, pour it in and toss for a minute until it has boiled once. It is right when the seasoning clings to the sprouts instead of running off into the liquid.
- ⏲ 30 sec
Add the minari, spring onion, sesame oil and sesame seeds, mix for 30 seconds only, take it off the heat and serve.
Variations
- The liver. If the cleaned fish comes with its liver, do not throw it away; cook it with the rest. It turns rich and soft.
More detail and the reasons why (3)
- Masan-style dried agwi-jjim. The traditional Masan version dries the monkfish in cold wind for 20-30 days and mixes the dried fish into the seasoning first so it takes the seasoning in before it is cooked. Elsewhere the fish is used fresh, simply gutted, which is what this recipe does. Dried monkfish is firmer and chewier.
- Haemul-jjim (mixed seafood). The same order with squid, prawns, blue crab and small octopus in place of the monkfish. Prawns and squid cook faster than monkfish, so cut step 2 to 3-4 minutes.
- Finish with fried rice. Stir a bowl of rice, crumbled gim and a little sesame oil into the leftover seasoning and press it into the pan until the bottom crusts. In restaurants this is the usual way to end the meal.
Tips
- Mix the seasoning in advance. The toss lasts two minutes, and adding the seasonings one by one in the pot leaves the sprouts overcooked before you finish.
- Minari for the last 30 seconds. Longer and it loses its fragrance and the stems turn stringy.
More detail and the reasons why (5)
- It is called jjim, and it is not steamed. The fish cooks in a shallow stock, only the sprouts cook in steam above it, and the seasoning goes in at the end. Nor is it braised for hours like galbijjim. A dish called "jjim" is not always steamed.
- Leave the lid alone once the sprouts are in. It is kongnamul-guk's rule: "Keep the lid on the whole time, or off the whole time — opening it midway brings out a beany smell." Here you choose on.
- The monkfish can be tossed. It is a firm fish, which is why bouillabaisse adds the fish "firmest first: monkfish, then rockfish, then gurnard" and puts monkfish at the head of that list. Swap in a soft fish and it falls apart during the tossing.
- Boil the slurry once. Take it off the heat before it bubbles and it never fully thickens and tastes of raw starch (thickening a sauce). Only a thickened seasoning stays on the sprouts.
- A dish born as a drinking snack. Monkfish was once thrown away for its looks, until Masan fishermen took it to a tavern and asked for something to eat with their drinks. It is still eaten with soju.
The basics behind this dish
- Browning and the Maillard ReactionMeat fails to brown for one of three reasons: it is wet, the pan is cool, or you put too much in at once. Plus how the brown film stuck to the pan becomes your sauce.
- Cooking Meat: Temperature, Resting, and Cutting Against the GrainDoneness is a core temperature, not a number of minutes. What resting actually does, how to handle a thick cut, and why the direction you slice changes the texture.
- Knife Skills: Grip, Cuts, and Why Size MattersHow you hold the knife matters more than how fast you cut. The pinch grip, the claw hand, and why uniform size is a cooking decision rather than a cosmetic one.
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